Who Is More Worthy?

Karolin wrote us a letter about her ministry, which is usually centered on enlightening people about the plight of animals, but like so many people that we know in the animal rights movement, she has a soft heart that extends to the whole of God’s creation.

“I work here at the Hospital. My floor also contains the prison floor. Two days ago a prisoner got very good news. He got a new liver.

Some guards made some comments such as “what a waste of a good liver” (because he has committed a crime).

Later that day I had a conversation with a friend.

I told him the story and said “I think he deserves it just as much as anyone else does.”

Then my friend asked “why” and I answered “well, when a person commits murder on another person, it is called a crime, but when we murder an animal to eat, it is called normal. It is both murder though. Therefore we are no better than this prisoner. We are criminals too; it is just that the human law decides which crime is acceptable and which one is not. Therefore this prisoner deserves this liver the same as anyone else.

Then my friend said “or doesn’t he?”

Karolin looks at things exactly the way the Lord does. Note what we are told in Matthew 25:37-40.

37. “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink?

38. ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?

39. ‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

40. “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
NASB

That prisoner and the animals are among “the least of these”, and deserve our help just as much as anyone else.

And consider something else. The prisoner was guilty of a crime, but the animals did nothing to deserve the horrible treatment they receive. Who do you think is more worthy? How do you think the Lord will deal with those who cause and contribute to so much suffering, and with those who created the twisted laws and regulations that allow it?

10 Responses to Who Is More Worthy?

Except that taking a human life is murder and clearly catagorized as a sin. Murdering animals, while a terrible thing, is not a sin in the same respect. We are not equal with the animals, we are made in the image of God and for that reason, we have a higher degree of responsibility than the animals but we are not their equal when it comes to choosing to kill them vs killing each other. God gave us permission to eat the animals, just because we have taken that permission and turned it into a perverse sacred right to eat as many as we can in our lifetimes, does not make it on par with murder to kill them.
So you are saying that hunters, or any of us who have ever eaten animals, are just as bad as people like those who have committed recent multiple murders?
That will certainly get you put in the corner and ideas discarded as those of an extremist nut case.
We’ll ALL stand before God one day, what is most important to Him is that we have won souls to Him. Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

Isaiah says “to kill an ox is the same as killing a man.” It is murder. We were made in God’s image, to treat His creation the way that He would. If God were on earth now what would He do? In granting us permission to eat animals, it was a concession because “he knew the evil in their hearts.” (Genesis 9, after the flood). In all of the covenants that God makes with us, He includes animals. God also says in Genesis that for the life we take (animals) He will require our own blood life. It is interesting that so many diseases we suffer from especially today is related to the animal products we eat.

In living as Christ did, living towards the peaceable kingdom to come now is what Jesus came to show us how to do (among other things). It is also interesting, and I never thought about the Lord’s prayer in this way until I began including animals in His covenant with us, that “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” means here and now and “as it is in heaven.” Earth is a fallen place. Heaven is not. There isn’t any murdering or violence going on in heaven.

I agree that people are important. And what a blessing we can be, and what a witness we can be, by not partaking in the killing of His creation, and in living within the peaceable kingdom now as much as is possible! If we want to win the hearts for Jesus, and to help end the suffering that goes on on the earth now, what a beautiful way to engage in doing so! Killing is an violent thing, no matter how “humanely” we think it is done. And to boot, the way it is done now on our factory farms, there is nothing at all honoring God and all He has created there. It is violent, the industries take advantage of poor and uneducated people, they pollute our environment and cause many many problems for all of humanity that we could avoid entirely were we to base our sustenance on a plant based diet. We could feed many hungry people with the grain it takes to feed one cow for example, too.

There is a lot of information about this, I encourage you to explore the issue, and learn about what is happening not only to animals in our industries, but to the real facts behind what they are doing not only to them, but to the human race, too, and ask – ” does this honor our Lord and Savior, does this encourage others to want to see our Lord?”

I’m sorry I do not think God EVER gave us permission to eat the animals! He saw that Man was going to go ahead and eat them anyway, against His Will, and Directions in Genesis. Animals may not be ‘equal’ with us in some aspects of our/their evolution – but all the more reason to adopt guardianship over them and protect them from all harm – which means don’t eat them under any circumstances. We are equals in the sense that animals, humans and all Good things in creation are all part of the same One Spirit:- God…

Frank, I agree entirely with your blog. Whether we murder a person or an animal, we are taking a life; it is deliberate, not accidental. We are removing a spark of life – a portion of God’s creation – whether “superior”, or small and humble. At some stage we have realised that, and changed our behaviour.
However, we can’t refuse to help a prisoner in some way which arises, because we can’t assume there is little or no potential for HIM to become aware and to grow spiritually; we don’t know the provocation for the murder, ‘tho’ we can’t excuse it. God knows each heart and life, sees progress, and values everything which is of HIS creation.- ‘even’ the sparrow, the insect…

P.S. I think it starts, too, (the enforced hardening of the heart – not children’s natural approach to animals) – with dissecting small creatures in school. I hope it is no longer done! Why can’t they use illustrations etc for biology?